Dear Jon and friends,

thank you. TEI is indeed one which we can learn from, especially its
experience in the adoption of XML.

As you mention, well defined schema(s) would facilitate better
exchange of Pali texts, and also scholarly works in translations,
comparative studies, etc. Verse by verse capture of text is possible
in XML, given its high degree of flexibility. I think the
possibilities are endless.

The schema(s) will remain open and free for any website or group to
use. It will also remain as a live document, to be frequently updated
to reflect current knowledge and technology in text encoding.

I believe such schema(s) would be very helpful in the development of
other projects on tipitaka.net.

Given the nature of your profession, your inputs to the development of
the proposed schema(s) would be valuable. Would you be keen to be the
editor?

I believe there are also other members in the group who are able to
provide important feedback too. However, allow me to first lay the
groundwork. ;-)

This week, I will present a draft to the group. The draft shall
include your first suggestion, i.e. verse-by-verse text encoding. In
the meantime, please keep your mails coming. Thank you.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Jon Fernquest wrote:

Sounds like a good idea. Would make it much easier to reformat and
repurpose Tipitaka text, for example, matching the Pali original with
translations in various languages, or with renditions of the Pali in
different scripts.

If the Pali was indexed by the verse it would be relatively easy to
interleave the Pali with a translation.